Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hello Itzhak,
My boyfriend and I split up last week.
I love him very much.
I'm sure he loves me too.
I'd do anything to get him back.
I know.
People will do anything for love.
Anything.
But that will be our next topic.
Next episode I'll talk about love,
relationships, separations, binding couples, restoring love.
You can send me all your questions on love,
separation, binding.
Let's begin the show.
Hello, Itzhak,
my mother-in-law gave me a Hamsa.
She even hung it at the front door.
After watching you on your website,
I realized it's a Moslem mezuzah.
It has nothing to do with Judaism or luck.
I took it down and it resulted in an argument with my mothe-in-law.
What should I do?
I suggest you tell your mother-in-law
to watch one of the shows
where I explain what a Hamsa is.
Based on your last name,
I see you are from Sephardic descent.
So there is a chance
it is an item
passed down from her father,
since the Hamsa brings luck.
I suggest you tell her to watch one of my shows.
I presume she'll understand
that it is indeed... a Moslem mezuzah.
Maybe she will take it back.
If not,
at least she will appreciate the things you want
or don't want to put up in your home.
After all, it is your home.
Next question.
Hello, Itzhak, I suspect I have the Evil Eye.
I saw that your website provides a way to check
if I indeed have the Evil Eye.
Are there other ways to check?
Yes, there are several ways to check.
You can use a very thin silver chain.
Hang the thin silver chain around your neck
for 30 days.
If the chain tears during those 30 days,
that means you have the Evil Eye.
If it doesn't tear, you don't have the Evil Eye.
There is another way and that is to take a bowl.
In one of the previous episodes I explained
that one of the ways of checking if one has the Evil Eye
is by putting a bowl of water by the bed for the night.
Here's another way.
Fill a bowl half way with water
and add 3 cm of oil.
The purest olive oil is best.
Look at your reflection in the bowl
and wait 2 or 3 minutes.
If our reflection becomes distorted,
disappears or becomes deformed,
presumably you should check with someone
if you have the Evil Eye
because that represents the Evil Eye.
If our reflection vanished,
you might even have a spell on you.
So that should be checked too.
As I said, half a bowl of water,
and 2 or 3 cm of oil.
Look well and focus on your reflection
in the bowl.
That's another way to check if you have the Evil Eye.
After learning how to check for the Evil Eye,
let's focus on superstitions.
There are many superstitions, not only in Judaism.
Many people
have superstitions
that they live by.
People are even willing to swear
that these things happen, that they're not merely superstitions.
Let's begin with one of the superstitions
that even made 40 million people
lose their lives.
A third of the population of Europe
died because of a superstition.
How?
Well,
the church decided
that cats are Satan's apprentices.
What did they do in the Middle Ages?
They went on cat hunts.
They killed almost all the cats in Europe.
This increased the number of rats and mice.
The rats brought the plague.
As a result of the plague,
one in three Europeans died.
This resulted from the killing of cats
and from the superstition that cats are Satan's apprentice.
It began with a black cat
but gradually shifted to all cats.
Until they realized they destroyed the balance in nature.
They removed the rats' number one enemy,
the spreaders of disease,
so there was nothing to prevent them from spreading these diseases.
That's a superstition
that harmed humanity.
There are many harmless superstitions.
Beliefs. One can live with them.
Often we go "tfu-tfu-tfu," for example.
If we didn't actually spit and just went...
we uttered the sound tfu-tfu-tfu,
that's okay.
Where did tfu-tfu-tfu come from?
The same Middle Age diseases.
When a sick person spoke to a healthy person,
the healthy person got the disease.
They didn't know they were conveying germs through the mouth.
But they knew that when a person says certain things,
a sick person says things to a healthy person,
he infects him with the disease.
They believed that if that person
talked to the healthy person
and the healthy person said tfu-tfu-tfu as if spitting the words back,
he wouldn't contract the disease.
Later it applied to...
Later it went on to prevent the Evil Eye
and other things.
Whenever we hear something,
we instantly say tfu-tfu-tfu,
as if to ward the words off.
But the source of spitting 3 times
comes from the Middle Ages,
when diseases were spread,
when people believed that if a sick man speaks
he is conveying the disease.
Another superstition, mainly in Judaism,
is placing a stone on a grave.
When we go to the cemetery,
to recite Kaddish or perform a burial, etc...
we take a small stone
and place it on the grave.
Where did that custom come from?
Once, in ancient Egypt,
a coin was placed in the mouth of the deceased
so he'd reach the afterlife
and have money to pay to enter paradise.
It underwent many changes on the way
and reached Rome.
The saying goes: All roads lead to Rome.
In Rome there was a statue of a god called Hermes.
This god was in charge of the roads.
There was a huge statue of the god
at all the exits from Rome.
Whoever ventured out,
placed a stone at his feet as an offering.
An offering for a successful journey.
At the time, there were many robbers
and the roads were unsafe.
That's why they gave the god an offering, a stone,
to protect the travelers.
If we look back,
whoever embarks on a journey
does a little something to ensure success.
When a person dies and we bury him,
we place a stone to symbolize
that he should succeed on his journey to the afterlife.
This can be the equivalent of the coin that was placed in a deceased Egyptian,
or the offering to the god of roads to ensure a successful journey.
That custom reached Judaism.
I asked many rabbis and each had a different answer.
Each one has a different interpretation, there is no one interpretation.
Because it's a custom we adopted from Europe.
I assume it's a very ancient custom.
Someone even went as far as to say
the stone is for the building of the Temple.
I didn't understand the connection
between placing a stone on a grave
and a stone for the Temple.
But who am I to contest the words of wise men.
Another Jewish superstition
is to maintain marriage.
When a couple marries, there's a custom whereby
if the groom takes the bride's ring on a full moon night
and urinates through the ring,
the woman will remain faithful her entire life.
She won't cheat, she won't covet another man,
she will always follow him.
I don't know the source of this superstition,
but it's something many people do.
It's not as common, either,
it's not something men brag about.
The same goes for the mezuzah in our home.
The mezuzah is a type of amulet for the home.
The source of the mezuzah is the 10 plagues of Egypt.
The 10th plague, slaying the first born,
an angel of death struck all the first born in Egypt.
He passed over the houses with blood on the door.
What does that mean?
The sign on the door
kept the angel of death away.
Since then it transformed
to become the mezuzah of today.
The Jews believe
that if you have a mezuzah on your door,
the angel of death will not come around.
Or the home will remain free
of demons and ghosts and things like that.
By the way, it is not customary to put a mezuzah on the bathroom door
since the bathroom is impure.
If you watch previous episodes,
in one of them I explain
you must not enter an impure place with sacred items.
Many people sin by entering the bathroom
with a prayer book, with the traveler's prayer,
with the Tikkun Klali, Shirat Ha-Yam and other sacred items.
They enter the bathroom and invalidate these items,
then they wonder why they are besieged with trouble.
That relates to the belief
of not taking sacred items into an impure place.
There's another belief that says:
Do not open your mouth to the devil.
The source of this belief is also in Europe.
When I say Europe, I mean the Middle Ages.
I think this belief has a lot of...
social tendencies.
It's to prevent people from teasing other people.
It began when people spoke of the devil,
praised him or even criticized him,
they said: Don't open your mouth to the devil.
Meaning, don't summon him.
Don't praise him, don't curse and blaspheme.
Do not utter the devil's name
so that he doesn't come.
So, don't open your mouth to the devil.
Later, when people began
considering disabled people...
laughing at their handicaps,
whether a man with a limp or a man who stuttered,
or anything else,
they said: Don't open your mouth to the devil,
meaning, don't summon him or he will infect you
with the same disease or ailment that person has.
That's why it's forbidden to laugh at someone who is disabled.
No matter the type of impediment.
I think that "Don't open your mouth to the devil"
conveys a social concern for mankind,
for the crippled and disabled,
for anyone who has a hard time
fitting in with society.
So that phrase prevented many people
from mocking others, lest they get the same disease.
In this case, it's for the best.
Hello, Itzhak.
Since we moved to a new apartment and my neighbor came to visit,
my home has been ruined. God help us.
Endless arguments with my husband.
Bad energy. Has something been done?
This question was sent by Tzipora.
I will do an opening to see if God forbid she did anything to you.
I hope you had a house warming
and purified the house before you moved in.
Often we move in to new homes
where... either someone died,
and his soul is still in the house
and he feel his home has been taken away,
or people lived there who had bad energy,
or people did all kinds of things, God help us.
It's always best to purify the home
before we move in.
Obviously, in order to do an opening,
we must write the name on parchment.
Kosher parchment.
Well.
Well.
I think something was done to you,
but I don't know if it was the neighbor,
since there is great envy of you.
Perhaps the move to the apartment
created jealousy in other people.
Not necessarily the neighbor.
It's easiest to blame someone
who specifically
was there when things happened.
But it's not necessarily the neighbor who brought the bad energy
or caused the upheaval.
The opening shows that people are envious of you.
The move to this apartment,
the people who knew,
maybe you even held an event
and didn't purify the home.
Maybe the envy of people you know
brought the bad energy.
No one cast a spell, it's nothing the neighbor did.
She didn't do anything specifically,
because... she has no reason to be jealous.
You're only her neighbors. It's not that...
We envy people who got ahead
or who surpassed us, who have more than we do.
It's an envy mixed with anger.
Usually envy is mixed with anger.
The anger stems from the fact that he has and I don't.
It's in man's nature.
The anger is negative energy
that bursts forth when we are jealous.
We must be cautious of envy
because it can result in the Evil Eye and things like that.
I think if you purify the house,
you will restore peace and quiet.
After all, you moved
and you must be happy and move forward.
God forbid this home should cause the ruin of the family.
You must build yourselves and advance.
A thorough purification
can be done with candles.
On my website, Israghost,
there are several tips on purifying the home.
The web shop has pure Jalal which you can use to purify.
There's Golden Mascutta, there are many ways to purify.
I suggest purification
is what you should do.
There's no need for anything else.
Tzipora,
I believe that after the purification,
you will be a happy, loving family again.
Good luck.
Let's discuss some superstitions
whose connection to fruit and vegetables
amazed our listeners
during one on my lectures.
The banana.
A man who eats lots of bananas will be fertile and ***.
Maybe it's the shape of the banana.
A woman who eats lots of bananas will also be fertile.
Dried banana leaves by the front door
keep demons and ghosts away.
Onions. The fruit of fire.
If you hang onions by your front door, it keeps away demons and ghosts.
It's an ancient custom, it's also an Arab custom.
Onion seeds, the tiny black seeds,
in a small bag, in one's pocket,
will prevent bad thoughts.
All his thoughts will be positive.
If we put onions in our bed,
I mean, under the mattress, by the bed, near our head,
we'll have prophetic dreams.
We discussed dreams
so... we'll add the superstition.
I must repeat, these are superstitions.
If they work, I call it coincidence.
Because these are superstitions.
If you throw a fistful of seeds
at a man setting out on a trip,
it can be sunflower seeds, it can be lentils, etc...
without his knowledge,
we will keep him from disaster, God forbid.
We will prevent him from getting hurt or any bad thing that could happen.
If a woman plants seeds, more precisely cherry seeds,
a cherry is considered the fruit of love,
in 14 days she will begin the process of finding a man to wed,
if she's single.
Again, this is a superstition.
Superstitions... The Japanese fully believe
that if a woman plants
cherry seeds, she will find a man.
Maybe they open something
when someone does a process,
it's called: Placebo.
Meaning, we convince ourselves that it will happen and it does.
It's a superstition that we believe in,
and... as they say, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
When we want to achieve something,
we do anything to make it happen.
So the prophecy fulfills itself.
The same thing happens when people...
When we go to someone who...
tells us his opinion.
Even though prophecy was given to fools,
but he says: In so-and-so time,
this and that will happen to you.
Then we aim everything we do at that event
that we expect to happen to us.
Sometimes it works.
Suddenly it happens and we say: The prophecy was true.
On the other hand, if we forget about it
then we remember after a while and say:
Wait, we were told this and that would happen,
that I'd become rich or something,
or that I will be married or have children
or all kinds of things like that and it didn't happen.
It's because we didn't aim for it.
That's a self-fulfilling prophecy.
A rose is the flower of love.
If a woman pours rose water on the man's hands,
and he washes his hands in rose water,
she will make him love her more,
be more faithful
and prevent him from coveting someone else, i.e., cheating.
That's a superstition too.
It was usually done
when people left the synagogue, I remember it as a child.
They handed out rose water at synagogue
and the woman said to the man: Come, do this.
If it's true or not, only the woman and man know it.
Many superstitions.
Olives.
Olive oil has many attributes.
Kings were anointed with oil. Pure olive oil.
That means oil has sacred properties.
We sanctify with it.
We anoint a man king, we elevate him above the people.
That means olive oil
is not just something we put in salad, it has many attributes.
Among its many attributes,
if we take 21 olive pits
and burn them, grind them and scatter the ashes at our front door,
no harm will come to us. No harm will come to the home.
There will be no divorce, no arguments.
It'll keep out demons and ghosts.
Bad energies will run for their lives.
Olives have many attributes,
in addition to the oil that does many things.
Other things.
If we spread some oil on the right and left doorposts of our home,
before people come,
the passage between the doorposts
will purify the person who comes in.
It will purify him so that
if he has bad thoughts, envy or the Evil Eye
or anything else he might want to do,
it will not stick to the family or the home itself.
Many negative things
can also be done with olive oil.
Obviously I won't tell you what those things are.
We are here for the positive, not the negative.
Rubbing our hands with olive oil
when the moon is full
can increase our intuition and prophetic skills.
I don't like to use the word prophetic,
as I said, prophecy was given to fools since the destruction of the Temple.
I prefer the word intuition,
intuition is one level less
than prophecy, but it is many levels
above foreseeing.
So our prophetic skills will intensify, or our intuition,
and we can identify things
or listen to our inner voice after the action was done.
It's likely we will succeed.
Take a lemon.
Lemon seeds.
Put them in a bag with a picture of someone from whom
we want to remove the Evil Eye or a spell.
Bury it during a full moon night.
Do it out in the open,
where the moon can see what we are doing.
This superstition means
that the person we are doing this action for
will be cleansed.
Garlic needs no special introduction
because we all know what wonderful properties it has.
And they are many.
From hanging a garland of garlic at our front door to prevent...
By the way, it's an Arab belief, not a Jewish belief.
A Moslem belief, hanging garlic at the front door.
To keep away demons and ghosts
because they say they don't like the smell.
There's the ruda plant too.
I know it's also used in Ethiopia.
The ruda is planted in the yard or in a pot,
because either you love or you hate the smell of the ruda.
One of the two.
They say demons and ghosts don't like the smell.
So they keep away from the house with that plant.
Garlic, by the way, also has medicinal properties,
that's no superstition,
it's something we know,
it's a scientific fact,
and many things are produced from it.
But... the only superstition
we attribute to garlic
is that a garland of garlic keeps away demons and ghosts.
Apples.
Apples are called the fruit of God.
There's nothing like an apple to evoke someone's love.
But to find out if our partner
really loves us, what do we do?
We take a new knife.
We take an apple.
We slice it down the middle.
We give it to our partner to eat.
If he ate the entire half, he's very much in love.
If he ate half of the half of apple,
his love is uncertain.
If he didn't eat at all,
he might not be in love.
If he says he's in love,
this should be re-examined
to ensure if he does or doesn't.
Apple seeds.
If we put them in a glass of water over night
and drink the water in the morning and toss the seeds on the ground,
our memory will be very sharp that day.
Usually students do it before an exam.
If we do these actions, as I said,
take the seeds of an apple we ate,
put them in water overnight,
and drink the water in the morning,
that day our memory will be excellent.
Our thoughts will be sharp.
Check it out.
They say it's a superstition,
but many people who read about it on my website,
I have many pages on superstitions on my website,
a large section.
Some people do the things that appear in that section
and then they write: Itzhak,
I did that thing with the apple, I remember someone wrote this,
I did that action
and even though I didn't study, I got 95 on my exam.
He attributes it to the apple.
But the title of the section is: "Superstitions".
Take that into account.
An apple sliced with a sharp knife
at the front door of a rival
will bring trouble upon him.
But the trouble will pertain to the man who did the action.
Meaning, it is worthwhile that the rival live in peace
with whoever did the action.
Okay? If we take an apple and slice it in two
and place it outside the home of someone we are in conflict with,
if he doesn't make peace with us, he will have trouble.
So it is likely he will make peace.
Fresh apples,
juicy apples, at home.
People believe they keep the doctor away.
If we keep apples in a bowl at home,
the family will be healthy. I don't know why.
That's a belief too.
That's it for superstitions.
Obviously there are many other superstitions on my website.
You can log on, read them.
Some are funny, some are serious, some are surreal.
But usually I specify
their source
and how they changed to this day.
In our next episode,
as I said in the beginning,
we'll discuss love, cheating, binding, relationships,
everything that pertains to love.
Separation, betrayal...
You can ask any question
you have about love.
I will also give tips on how to maintain love,
how to intensify it,
how to rekindle it,
because sometimes, after years of marriage,
the love has decreased
and we tend to look elsewhere.
So how to rekindle it.
If you want to test compatibility,
often people are not compatible to begin with.
So sadly, down the road,
the relationship won't make it.
A relationship based on love,
a relationship based on adoration,
sometimes we connect with someone
because we adore them, we don't really love them.
Once he is no longer on top, he is like anyone else.
I am here to answer all your questions on love.
Until then, take care, God bless.